![]() ![]() Instead, Locomotive Software optimised it for business use, with, for instance, full ISAM random-access file support, making it easier to write database applications. ![]() Mallard was based on this model, with an integrated editor that was tailored for the PCW's non-standard 90-column screen.Īlthough the PCW actually had excellent monochrome graphics support for its time and specification, closely comparable to the Hercules Graphics Card for IBM PC compatible computers, Mallard BASIC had no graphics support whatsoever. These also included a built-in screen editor. Instead of booting into CP/M or a similar OS, these machines booted directly into a BASIC normally stored on ROM. In contrast, home computers of the era had moved to using BASIC as the primary interface for the machine. BASIC was not built-in in these cases, the user would prepare a program and then invoke BASIC to run it. There were many existing implementations of BASIC for CP/M, such as Digital Research's CBASIC and the third-party ZBasic, but they followed the earlier 1970s model of compilers that were fed source code prepared in a separate text editor. While the PCW was primarily a dedicated word processor for business use running LocoScript, it was running on top of the CP/M operating system. In the 1980s, it was standard industry practice to bundle a BASIC interpreter with microcomputers, and the PCW followed this practice. Mallard BASIC is a BASIC interpreter for CP/M produced by Locomotive Software and supplied with the Amstrad PCW range of small business computers, the ZX Spectrum +3 version of CP/M Plus, and the Acorn BBC Micro's Zilog Z80 second processor. ![]()
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